At the dawn of the 20th century, the films underwent a great many experiments to go from silent to sound:  engineers of all backgrounds and from all countries continued to search for the method of adding sound to the image to achieve a greater level of realism.  Before achieving the famous public screening of The Jazz Singer in 1927, officially the first feature length talking film in the history of cinema, the path was arduous.  There was no lack of experiments.  Among the first attempts were those of sound effect engineers associated with traditional musical accompaniment (from the simple piano to orchestras in big theatres).  In Berlin, inventor Alfred Duskes developed a patented synchronous disk system under the name Cinophon and thanks to this he set up a film production company. 1908, the year of this film, also saw the creation of the first music composed for cinema, that of Camille Saint-Saëns for The Murder of the Duke of Guise.

Rigoletto (1851) is an Italian opera in three acts and four scenes by Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901), adapted from the Victor Hugo (1802-1885) play The King enjoys himself. La donna è mobile is the aria that the Duke of Mantoue sings at the end of the last act when he reveals to Rigoletto the sacrifice of his daughter Gilda. It's one of the most popular arias in Verdi's work. It is said that the great composer kept the score secret until its premiere at the theatre to keep an element of surprise.  The performance was a triumph and from the next day, the aria of the cynical Duke was on everybody's lips.

This aria was immortalised by Caruso (1873-1921), considered at the time to be one of the greatest opera singers.  But he was also one of the first stars of phonographic recording, which ensured him recognition by a greater public through the use of his voice on radio and in the cinema.  His huge popularity was probably one of Alfred Duskes' reasons for choosing him.